Marion Motley played against teams coached by Paul Brown in high school, and for the Hall of Famer at Great Lakes Naval Station while they were in the Navy. Motley teamed with Vikings Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant at Great Lakes in 1945.
In 1946, Motley joined Bill Willis as the first two African American players to play for Brown’s Cleveland Browns in the inaugural season of the All-America Football Conference. Motley signed three days after Willis, who had played for Brown at Ohio State and attended the same high school as Vikings legend Jim Marshall.